Kumi Koda takes the #1 spot with “TRICK” and good debut for Miho Fukuhara. Mai Kuraki drops to #8 and again, similar to a trend in 2009, not many albums are holding their footing for more than a week. 9 out of 10 of the albums this week are all new.

KinKi Kids takes the #1 spot. With the economic crunch hitting in Japan, another week with hardly anyone from previous weeks staying in the top 10 with the exception of Junko Akimoto. It will be interesting to see if KinKi Kids and GReeeeN who typically have long staying power in the top 10 will break this cycle in next week’s daily single charts.

Note: Please credit missohreally of CEFC for translation of article and do not edit any parts of this article. Please quote this translated article (including this note) in its entirety. Thank you for your co-operation.

[29.01.2009] Ella receives present, Wu Zun is included

Sometimes, the reason there is rumour between a couple is because of promotional purposes. If it is not true, rumours will fade off eventually. However, the longer the rumour is able to sustain itself; it means that the rumour could have been true. Another way to find out whether a rumour is true is to observe the fans. The fans will follow the idols everywhere at anytime, even closer to them than the reporters. Hence, if the fans openly discuss about their rumoured couple’s accessories, the chances of them not being real couple are very little.

An example would be Wu Zun and S.H.E’s Ella. Although their collaboration for HYSNSN had ended for two to three years, their fans still believed strongly in their rumour-turned-true relationship. After their collaboration, they have also produced many love dramas/works, and also had new rumours with their new partners, but the fans still recognised the two of them as the one for each other. When S.H.E came to Hong Kong to promote their new album, SoSo host went to visit them. She discovered quite a number of fans gave presents to Ella, indicating, [To: Wu Zun and Ella]! Although after receiving the presents, she looked awkward and smiled, she never corrects the fans in time. Hence this rumour between them really gives people a space for imagination!

The music video for “Believe,” the upcoming single from the popular boy band Arashi, will “transform” the band members into the heroes from five classic anime of Tatsunoko studio’s “Time Bokan” franchise. Not coincidentally, “Believe” is also the theme song for the live-action film remake of Tatsunoko’s Yatterman anime — which happens to star Arashi’s Sho Sakurai (live-action Honey and Clover’s Yuuta). Both the song’s CD single and the animated music video will be released on March 4. The Yatterman film will open in Japan on March 7.

Appropriately, Sakurai will “transform” into Yatterman No. 1 in the music video. His bandmate Kazunari Ninomiya (Tekkonkinkreet’s Kuro) will change into Yattodetaman, while Satoshi Ohno will become the hero of the original Time Bokan series. Masaki Aiba will transform into the leader of Time Patrol-Tai Otasukeman, and Jun Matsumoto (live-action Gokusen’s Shin Sawada, 2005’s Hana Yori Dango’s Tsukasa) will reveal himself as Zendaman.

A television anime remake of the original Yatterman began airing in Japan last year. Last month in Japan, CAPCOM released the Tatsunoko vs. CAPCOM: Cross Generation of Heroes fighting game with many of Tatsunoko’s anime heroes from the last four decades. Yatterman film director Takashi Miike and Sakurai will appear at the world premiere of their film at New York Comic Con on February 6.

(Source: Sanspo) The 23 year-old star of TBS’ recent hit drama series, ROOKIES, is NOT dating 26 year-old Tarento, Yasuda Misako, according to both their companies. Shirota’s company protests that they only share a normal friendship, whilst Yasuda’s company denied all allegations flatly — “They are not dating”.

Actress and Idol Horikita Maki is the voice actress for a new Belgian Anime – Nato’s Space Adventure — I think, from what I can make of the Katakana — to be released on the 28th of March!

When asked for her views on Sawajiri Erika’s marriage to hypermedia creator Takeshiro Tsuyoshi (who, at 44, is twice Erika’s age of 22), Horikita Maki had this to say. “I think that it would be nice to get married in my 20s, and the difference in age between the person I like and my own age does not matter. I like people who don’t forget their sense of adventure and are not risk-adverse. ” However, she also revealed that she was not seeing anybody at the moment.

gist of the clip:
it’s basically a press conference for Hina’s upcoming butai “If or…”, but then there’s one lady reporter who just had to ask him about his rumored relationship with Erika Toda..he insisted that they were just friends..Continue reading →

The complete viewership numbers for the 59th Kohaku Uta Gassen were announced on Monday. This year, the highlight of the show was the “baka trio” Shuchishin, who drew in the largest audience of the night.

The group, which includes rising star Yusuke Kamiji, appeared on stage during the second half of Kohaku, accompanied by their corresponding female trio Pabo. Viewership was at 41.6% when they made their entrance, but it quickly rose and peaked at 47.8%.

The popular unit SMAP, who have had the highest ratings for the last three Kohaku competitions, had to settle for only 42.8% ratings this time. Meanwhile, Ayumi Hamasaki did well for an opening act with 31.8%, compared to previous years, such asMorning Musume in 2007 (26.2%).

The highest ratings of the night came twenty minutes before midnight, during the ending video segment that featured all of the artists. Ratings peaked at 50.0%, a mark that has not been reached since 2003.